


Norwegian Blue

by ximeria



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Humor, M/M, Manpain, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 07:19:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4092067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ximeria/pseuds/ximeria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik does not need Tony and Azazel prodding him about his cranky mood. And his cranky mood has nothing to do with a one-night-stand a few months back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Norwegian Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Simple piece of writing exercise to flex those writing muscles. I apologize for the lack of Pythonesque content in the story itself. I simply can not use the term 'pining' without adding 'for the fjords' - hence the title. I do not, at any point, compare Erik to a Norwegian Blue. Neither does Tony or Azazel, but that's because they both possess some amount of survival instinct.

Erik sat and nursed his drink, heart not really in it. He wasn't even sure why he'd agreed to come. Maybe survival instinct? Most of the department didn't care much for his company outside of work, but with both Azazel and Tony taking turns trying to convince him he should come… well, Erik had figured it would be easier to agree than have to listen to those two nagging for an extended length of time.

He was slowly regretting this decision, though. It had been meant as a wind-down sort of celebration that their newest building project had gone fairly smoothly - as in finished on schedule and with few, if any, accidents. Not to mention, within budget.

For a team, Erik knew Tony appreciated them all. They rarely fucked their projects up, him and Azazel and while it meant more and harder work, because Tony then in turn trusted them, so be it. Erik wasn't in his job for the money, he actually liked the variety of projects and the level of difficulty which more often than not, forced him to learn new things and think outside the box.

So, all in all, he liked his job at Stark Enterprise. No, really, he did. What he could have done without, though, was the constant nagging from two of his closes friends. Tony, because he was more of a friend these days than just the boss, and Azazel, who was one of the few people who didn't mind working closely with a taciturn man like Erik.

"So, Erik," Tony said, dropping into the empty seat next to Erik at the bar. "We're celebrating a job more than well done and you're sitting here, by yourself instead of partying." Tony gestured for the bartender to refill his glass. "And don't think I haven't noticed your abysmal mood has been going on for a few months by now."

Erik made a face, but didn't answer. He didn't owe Tony any explanations. He did he job and he did his job more than well.

"London," Azazel said, elegantly draping himself on top of the seat on the other side of Erik. His tail wrapped itself around the base of the chair and Erik suspected that Azazel would have toppled off said chair if not for that. "He's been a miserable fuck since London."

Erik growled under his breath, but there was no missing the gleam of interest in Tony's eyes as he leaned on the bar, to speak with Azazel.

"That's right, London was three months ago and you've been like this since. What happened in London?" Tony's speech was barely slurred and Erik figured he was far from being drunk enough for Erik to ditch him without raising too much interest. "Don't make me get Pepper to drag it out of you."

Erik's and Azazel's identical snorts made Tony put on a sad face.

"Please, she'd tell you to stop bothering me," Erik told him, trying not to smile. He might be fighting their digging for information, but somewhere he did appreciate the worry and the mental image of Tony trying to get Pepper in on… well, safe to say that Erik knew the woman well enough to tell how far that would get Tony.

"It's not that I can't appreciate you spending all your energy - positive as well as negative - on our projects," Tony admitted, "but take it from a fellow workaholic; it only works this well for so long." Tony turned to Azazel. "I expected you two to look out for each other when you were out and about, or I wouldn't have sent you to London unsupervised."

Azazel snorted. "I only lost sight of him for one night - I didn't expect him to go and get into trouble."

Tony didn't look impressed.

"I'm right here, you know," Erik said, letting how cranky he was feeling seep through. Really, did they have to talk over him like this?

"Yeah, but you're no help," Tony said, exasperatedly waving his hand, nearly toppling his drink.

Erik kept it upright with a twitch of fingers, the pennies he'd been playing with for the past half hour keeping the liquid from spilling.

"Look," Erik finally said. "I did something I regret, nothing that will ever impact the company, but just let me wallow for a while." He hoped he hadn't said too much, and hopefully enough to get the two off his case.

"Did you have a one night stand, Erik!?" Tony waved his arm again and this time he nearly toppled off the chair.

"How the hell-" Erik cut himself short.

"I thought you didn't have any interest in sex," Tony rattled on.

"I just don't revel in it the way you do," Erik bit. "Just… I'll be alright, don't worry." He could feel the stare of both of them.

"Okay," Tony said, sitting up straight on the chair - or as straight as a slightly inebriated man could. "We'll stay off your case as long as we think you're not harming yourself."

Well, if that was the best he could get-

* * *

"So-"

Erik rolled his eyes. "No," he said.

Tony leaned in from the other side of Erik's workstation. The look he gave Erik-

"And you can stop that look - pouting makes you look like a deviant," Erik told him without looking up. "Go bother Bruce instead."

"He's locked me out of his lab," Tony told him mournfully.

"Really? What a surprise," Erik deadpanned, still not looking up at Tony while he redid a couple of calculations on the tablet next to him.

"You're no fun either," Tony huffed. "Least you could give me is a name."

"Kindly fuck off, boss," Erik said with a deep sigh.

"Is that any way to treat-" Tony began, trying to sound hurt, but obviously not quite managing to hide his laughter.

"Yes, when it's you, the answer to that question will always be 'yes'." Erik waved his hand and Tony staggered a few steps back, shaking his hand as Erik had used his watch to pull him away by.

* * *

"So, we finally get to hear what the fuss is all about," Azazel said, handing a bottle of water over to Erik, because he knew Erik wouldn't drink while at work. After work; happily, but at work he prefered to keep a level, sober mind.

"Well, Tony's been keeping mum about it for a while now, I figure it'll either be something Avengers or SHIELD related," Erik replied back, twisting the cap off the bottle and taking a deep drink.

"That he doesn't normally keep quiet," Azazel argued. "And remember that he mentioned a joint venture earlier this week - this might be it."

"Since he wouldn't share then? Yeah, maybe," Erik agreed. He and Azazel were standing a little into the back of the room, the press gathering at the front and their co-workers watching it with equal measures of expectation and overbearing.

Tony stepped up and everyone went quiet. Clearing his throat, he began his introduction.

Erik listened as he was supposed to do, but two minutes down the line, everything went blank. Now, he wouldn't have recognized the name of the company that Stark Enterprises was going to run a joint venture program with. Xavier BioChem.

Mostly because he hadn't asked the last name of his one night stand, now had he?

Turning around, Erik just stumbled out the door a the back of the room, not really considering where he was going. He ignored the messages coming through on his phone in his pocket. In the end, he walked into one of the labs in the basement. The ones they rarely used, but where Erik occasionally hid from Tony.

"Mr. Stark is looking for you, Mr. Lehnherr."

Erik startled but then sank into the chair he'd sat in a moment earlier. "Tough. I don't want to be found right now." Had Tony known? Had he found out? And if so, why would he do this?

"I am obliged to tell him where you are."

"I… JARVIS, I'd appreciate it if you didn't." His request was initially met with silence. So he probably didn't have long before Tony showed up and he had to explain himself. He checked quickly checked that his mental barriers were in place, but there was no sign of any breach. Not that he'd notice since Charles had shown that night that he was damned skilled at using his abilities. He'd also showed an impressive sense of ethics, so maybe that was why he hadn't noticed Erik before Erik had escaped from the presentation.

"Erik!" Tony's voice rang out through the same speakers that had allowed JARVIS to speak to him a moment earlier. "What the hell did you tell JARVIS? He won't tell me where you are or why you went off like that. And you walked out just before I could announce you as the liaison in this new project." Tony paused for breath, then… "I thought you liked me, didn't expect you to pull a disappearing act on me and recruiting my own AI into it."

"Wow," Erik muttered to himself, staring at nothing. Sometimes JARVIS' ability to understand him was a bit scary. Or maybe it was years of watching Tony terrorising him that had paid off. Maybe JARVIS felt sorry for him.

Erik would take what he could get if it would get Tony off his back for a few moments. At least until Erik could admit to himself what _had_ been eating him since London. Like he wasn't allowed to regret that he'd had a one night stand instead of asking the guy for his contact information. And what if Tony _had_ known? What were the odds that the guy Erik hadn't been able to get out of his head was the same guy who ran their newest partner company? No, Tony must have known somehow. The world wasn't that small. And this meant that Tony, while probably meaning to do good, had fucked it up.

The door to the lab, behind Erik, clicked open and Erik sighed deeply. "I don't want to see or hear you right now, Tony," he said in a low voice. If Tony had-

"Well, good thing I'm not Tony, isn't it?"

Erik nearly fell out of his chair in his attempt to turn around fast enough. "What are you doing here?"

"JARVIS let me in." Charles put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the old workstation that Erik was seated at. "He's still not telling Tony where you are, though."

"Good," Erik said.

"Why are you so upset?" Charles asked, taking one hand up and waving at his own head. "I'm not in your mind, but-"

"Yeah. I know," Erik said tiredly. "Tony's been harassing me about London, trying to figure out what happened-"

"Then I turn up," Charles supplied, cocking his head to the side.

"Yes." Erik nodded, not quite capable of meeting Charles' eyes. "You look good," he said before he could stop himself.

Charles looked startled for a moment, then pleased. "You're looking pretty good yourself, when you're not white as a sheet. I thought I'd literally seen a ghost when you ran from the presentation."

"Yeah, that," Erik said, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. "Probably wasn't my most brilliant moment."

"Probably not," Charles agreed easily. "If it's any consolation to you, Tony had no idea about London; about you and I."

Erik huffed out a mirthless laugh. "I'm probably going to have to grovel to keep my job."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Charles said with a small laugh. "Tony's more worried than angry and I want to keep you as the joint venture liaison," he paused, then frowned. "I mean, if you want to. For all I know you don't want to have anything to do with me."

"No!" Erik shook his head. "I mean, yes, I do want, I... " Shit, Charles really hadn't been reading his mind at any point, had he? Time for some damage control, because Charles was looking at him him with a mixture of confusion and hope. "Yes, I do want to work with you, unless-" Erik broke himself off.

"Just spit it out, Erik," Charles said with a soft smile.

"Are you really here in the States to stay or are you leaving again?" Erik had to know. If Charles was going back to the UK, he might have to pester Tony for a transfer to one of the European offices. If Charles was even interested...

"Why would I leave?" Charles asked, looking genuinely confused. "I was only in Oxford to complete one of my PhDs."

One of… Erik stared at him. "But the accent," he said, barely audible.

"I have on good authority that my accent is charming," Charles said with a wink.

Erik had a flash of a memory of telling him it was fucking hot, which only made him flush again.

Charles took pity on him and stepped forward to stand in front of Erik. "I was born in Westchester, New York," he told Erik slowly. "Years of boarding school in Britain left the accent behind and I never tried to shake it."

"I'm glad," Erik blurted out.

"Heh," Charles said, shooting him a calculation look. "Erik, I want to be honest with you. That night we spent, in London, was nice, _more_ than nice, really. And quite frankly, I've been kicking myself since for not getting your number so I could come find you when I returned to New York to run the family company."

Erik just stared at him. He wondered for a moment if Charles was even speaking English, because the words didn't want to make any sense to him.

Charles shot him a worried look. "Was I making assumptions again? Raven always tells me that I barge into things and never consider-"

Erik reached out and took hold of buttons and cufflinks and yanked Charles forward, tumbling him into his lap before he could even think twice about it. "Have dinner with me," Erik said before cutting off any reply from Charles by kissing him hard on the lips.

 _'Gladly,'_ Charles voice unfolded inside Erik's head while he kissed Erik back rather enthusiastically. _'A bit backwards to start with the sex and then progress to dating, but we don't have to do things 'normally''_

"Normal is overrated," Erik panted against his lips when he finally pulled back. "I've thought about kissing you again every day since London."

Charles laughed out loud and reeled him in for another slow kiss. When he pulled back again a moment later, he had the most peculiar look on his face. "I think we need to go find Tony - I think JARVIS is leading him in circles down here and he's bound to find us at some point anyway."

Erik sighed. "JARVIS, feel free to tell Tony where we are."

"Thank you, Mr. Lehnsherr." Erik could have sworn he sounded almost relieved. "I was about to ask Miss Potts for help."

"No need for that, JARVIS, but thank you," Erik replied.

"You're quite welcome, sir."

"Now, let's see how long we have before Tony barges in here," Erik muttered, pulling Charles closer again, getting comfortable while he pressed another kiss to his mouth.

"Do you actually intend to have Tony walk in on us like this?" Charles asked, pulling back only far enough to look Erik squarely in the eye.

"You'll be able to tell before he comes through the door, won't you?" Erik asked, rubbing small circles in the small of Charles' back, under his suit jacket.

"Depends on how distracted I am," Charles mumbled, stealing a quick kiss.

Erik growled in reply. "Was that a challenge?"

"And if it was?" Charles replied, giving him a saucy grin.

"Consider it a challenge accepted, then," Erik told him, shutting Charles up for the foreseeable future.


End file.
